|
|
| Quote |  |
|
 |
|
Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me-
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.
-Shel Silverstein |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
How do you talk to yourself? Do you talk to yourself like Michael Jordan talks to himself?
In the last seconds of Game 6 in the 1993 NBA finals, Jordan and his team were behind by 6 points, and the tide was heavily against them since the game was being played in the Phoenix Sun's arena. The Bull's coach Phil Jackson recounts that all of his players were tense and unfocused during the time out, except Jordan. MJ recalls his own self talk during that moment: "Okay, we've still got a chance to win this game. All we've got to do is get some kind of roll going, and I'm the one to do that." Michael came out of the time out and ignited a winning comeback with a lay up and a rebound.
Self talk influences how you act.
How you talk to yourself has been on my mind since I read Muhammad Ali's biography last week. Ali has the best self-talk I've ever heard. Utterly inspiring. He even took it beyond talking to himself, and into the bold realm of talking about himself. Take for example what he said during a 1975 Playboy interview:
This is the legend of Muhammad Ali,
The greatest fighter that ever will be.
He talks a great deal and brags, indeed,
Of a powerful punch and blinding speed.
Ali fights great, he's got speed and endurance;
If you sign to fight him, increase your insurance.
Ali's got a left, Ali's got a right;
If he hits you once, you're asleep for the night.
[etcetera, etcetera, and so forth]
And then there's Ali's wonderfully humorous example of positive self-talk, as told by his best friend, Howard Bingham:
Ali asked me, 'If I walked down one side of the street, and Larry Holmes, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Mike Tyson walked down the other, which side would get more attention?' I told him his would. Then he asked, 'If I walked down the street and Jesse Jackson walked down the other, who'd get more attention?' And I told him the same thing. So finally he asked, 'If I walked down one side of the street and Elvis Presley walked down the other, who'd get more attention?' That one was harder, and I told him 'Overseas, you'd have more people, but in the United States it would be pretty close; maybe even a little for Elvis.' That didn't bother him. All he said was, 'I guess that's right. Elvis has been dead for years, so people would want to see if it was really him.'"
Yes, it's a very funny story, but doesn't it also beg the question, what heights would you reach if you spoke so highly of yourself? Does positive self-talk program your subconscious to act in accordance? As early as sixteen years old Ali was introducing himself with the words, "I'm Cassius Marcellus Clay*; I'm the Golden Gloves Champion of Louisville, Kentucky; someday I'm gonna be heavyweight champion of the world; and I'm gonna be famous." [*Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964 after winning the Heavyweight Championship of the world.]
What if you introduced yourself with the same bravado? What if I introduced myself with, "I'm Patrick Combs; I'm the best success coach on the college speaking circuit; someday I'm going to be the greatest speaker in the world; and I'm going to make a big impact on the world." Hmmmmm..... I suggest you type a similar introduction for yourself. Although typing those cocky words was admittedly a bit difficult, I encourage you to give it a go, right now. As you are typing, you are likely to feel what I felt - your self-image expanding and your subconscious taking notes, "OK, so this is my new assignment.".
Self-talk shapes your self-image. Your self-image shapes your destiny. Look into the background of Anthony Robbins and you'll find a teenager named Tony who's self-image was "The solutions man." Throughout high school he thought and talked of himself as the guy who would have a solution for every problem. Sit in the audience of renowned motivational speaker Zig Ziglar and you'll be told that the most powerful and impactful way you can quickly improve the course of your life is with 30 days of positive self-talk. (Zig Ziglar hands out a self-talk script which I've made this week's Hot Tip).
The first or second Chicken Soup for the Soul book by Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, tells a story that has really stuck with me. I can only paraphrase the story since I don't have the book around, but it was the ultimate example of positive self-talk.
A little boy is in the yard playing baseball, by himself. He holds the bat in one hand and the ball in the other, and before throwing up the ball and swinging at it, he announces outloud, "The great hitter is up to bat." He then throws the ball up, swings, and misses. The boy picks up the ball and says, "The greatest hitter in the world is up to bat again." He throws the ball up again, swings, and misses. The boy picks up the ball, shakes his head and states, "The greatest hitter in the history of the game is up to bat." He throws the ball up, swings, and again misses. Now the boy reaches down, grabs the balls and before throwing it up again exclaims, "The world's best batter ever, anywhere, is up and batting against a very good pitcher."
Make your self-talk as great as the greats.
Until I'm back from my one week vacation in Hawaii, be the five letter word you're meant to be. |
|
|
|
Hot Tip
Do Zig Ziglar's Talk to Yourself excercise
Hot Tip
The Art of Talking to Yourself and Others, by Harry Hazel
"I am in earnest;
I will not equivocate;
I will note excuse;
I will not retreat a single inch;
and I will be heard."
-William Lloyd Garrison
Ali's most memorable airplane ride occurred on a shuttle flight from Washington D.C. to New York, when a stewardess asked him to buckle his seatbelt before takeoff. "Superman don't need no seatbelt," Ali advised the stewardess. "Mr. Ali," the stewardess responded sweetly, "Superman don't need no plane."
- excerpted from the book
"I'm the funniest kid in the class. Why do I have to fall back on anything?"
-A teenage Albert Brooks replying to his Mom's statement that 'have something to fall back on.'
"For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is."
- Goethe (1749-1832)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
